THE PLIGHT OF AGE AND THE LENDING AGENCIES

Mar 23, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
I pen this letter out of frustration with regards to ownership of a home and the situation with the lending agencies when you are over 50 years of age. Firstly, I applied to the Ministry of Housing for a piece of land in March 2003. I did receive an acknowledgement sometime later in the year. However, after constant checks for years with this Ministry I was told there was no land available but to my dismay there were persons who applied long after and got through. It was not until about four years ago I was subsequently granted a piece of land after making some noise. Even though I was given same and paid half of the total cost I had to wait for about two (2) more years for the installation of infrastructure before the land was officially shown to me.
The contention of this matter is that when I applied in 2003 I was young enough to acquire a loan from the bank to build. Now that I am over 50 years and close to retirement my options are limited. I approached my bank at which I am a customer for many years (Republic Bank, Diamond) and the treatment I received from the mortgage officer leaves much to be desired. It was like age is a crime. I was turned away. Most banks told me that because of my age I cannot access this facility unless I can show that after retirement I will be employed. This situation is a very frustrating one for me.
It is my opinion that the Ministry of Housing should take people’s age into consideration when granting house lots. When they keep your document on file for years this will happen and I am sure many persons are faced with the same dilemma. Most agencies give about 15-20 years to repay except for NBS who gives more time. So when they take years to give you a piece of land and age catches up with you the repayment is very high since you will be given less time to repay or like in my case be turned away. I can only say that indeed age is an honour but the options are limited.
Frustrated Nationalist

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